Oyster Park Primary Academy

Inspection of Oyster Park Primary Academy Watling Road, Ferry Fryston, Castleford, West Yorkshire WF10 3SN

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement 8–9 October 2019

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have created a calm and friendly environment. Pupils feel happy, safe and well cared for. Most pupils show respect for each other and for staff.

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What is it like to attend this school?

On the rare occasions that bullying occurs, pupils are confident that staff will deal with this quickly. Some pupils are anti-bullying ambassadors. Their job is to look after others in the playground.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils behave well. They get on well together. Pupils understand the school’s behaviour and rewards system. Adults deal with any misbehaviour quickly so that pupils’ learning is not disrupted.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending a range of clubs and activities. They particularly enjoy the lunchtime sports clubs. Sport has a high profile at the school. Pupils can get involved in activities such as rugby, cheerleading and fitness.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils enjoy school. They are eager to learn. However, pupils find it difficult to remember what they have learned. Teachers’ expectations of what pupils should and can achieve are not high enough, particularly in reading. Pupils have not had the opportunity to learn a wide range of subjects covering the national curriculum. Leaders are taking action to change this.

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better?

Leaders and governors are committed to improving the school. Since the last inspection, leaders have improved pupils’ behaviour and their attitudes towards learning.

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better?

Leaders have not ensured that pupils achieve well across the curriculum. At the end of Year 2 and Year 6, too few pupils have achieved the standards expected for their age, particularly in reading and mathematics.

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better?

Previously, pupils have not covered subjects such as history, geography and music in enough depth. Leaders are now addressing this. Leaders have developed curriculum plans in some subjects, such as science. These show the important content that pupils must learn. In other subjects, such as music and art, the curriculum has not been thought through carefully enough.

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better?

Sometimes, teachers do not realise soon enough that pupils have not understood important parts of their work. Teachers do not check well enough that pupils can remember what they have learned. For example, pupils could not recall the names of instruments that they had used in music. Pupils struggled to explain the order of historical events that they have learned about in history lessons.

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better?

Most pupils in key stage 2 enjoy reading. They select books from the wide range available in the school library. However, sometimes the older pupils read books that 8–9 October 2019

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are too easy for them. In Reception and key stage 1, the books that pupils read are not well matched to the sounds that they know. This stops them from reading fluently. Staff have had training to deliver the school’s phonics programme. However, some staff do not follow this programme well. Adults do not always help pupils to use their phonics to sound out unfamiliar words. Instead, they get pupils to guess words from pictures.

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Most parents and carers are positive about the support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Targets on pupils’ support plans are not precise enough to enable them to achieve well. This is particularly the case in reading.

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Leaders prioritise pupils’ personal development. Pupils understand the difference between right and wrong. Older pupils can explain the importance of democracy. Pupils show respect and tolerance to others. They learn about the benefits of healthy eating and physical exercise. Some children who talked to inspectors had a limited understanding of different religions.

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Trustees have a wide range of skills. Governors and trustees have challenged leaders well to improve pupils’ behaviour and attitudes. Most pupils now behave well. Pupils’ attendance has also improved. However, governors and trustees have not challenged leaders well enough to improve the quality of education across the curriculum.

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Staff morale is high. Staff who are new to teaching feel well supported. Leaders and trustees are considerate of staff well-being. They have taken action to reduce staff workload. Staff appreciate this. They are proud to work at the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

All staff understand the important role they play in keeping pupils safe. Leaders ensure that staff training is up to date. Staff are vigilant. They are aware of risks in the local community. A programme of assemblies and weekly ‘social skills’ lessons help pupils to keep themselves safe.

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Safeguarding

Staff understand how to report any concerns. Leaders ensure that referrals to outside agencies are made quickly. Records of any actions taken are detailed.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Pupils are not learning to read with fluency and understanding swiftly enough. Weaker readers, including pupils with SEND, do not catch up as quickly as they should. Teachers’ expectations of the progress pupils make in reading term by term are not ambitious enough. Leaders need to ensure that the books pupils learn to read at home and school are well matched to pupils’ phonics knowledge. 8–9 October 2019

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They should also ensure that pupils have more opportunities to re-read books to build their reading fluency and confidence quickly.  Pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they should. The targets set for pupils with SEND are not specific enough to address their needs. Leaders should ensure that targets for pupils with SEND are precise and understood by staff so that pupils are supported appropriately to achieve well.  Pupils do not achieve as well as they should in some of the foundation subjects, such as geography and music. Curriculum plans are now in place for some subjects, but not all. Leaders should ensure that curriculum plans for all subjects cover the scope of the national curriculum and are implemented well so that pupils explore and learn subjects in sufficient depth.  Some pupils have gaps in their learning or misconceptions that are not addressed quickly by teachers. Pupils find it difficult to recall what they have learned. Some

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teachers do not revisit important content in order that pupils retain it over time. Leaders should ensure that teachers use assessment more effectively to check pupils’ understanding and to make sure that pupils remember the most important aspects of their work.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you’re not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 8–9 October 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10110604 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection 14–15 June 2017

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the Northern Ambitions Academies Trust.  The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is above the national average.

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Information about this inspection

 We met with the headteacher, acting deputy headteacher and curriculum leaders. We also met with leaders responsible for safeguarding, behaviour, attendance and personal development. The lead inspector held a discussion with representatives of the academy council and members of the board of trustees, including the chief executive officer.  We scrutinised a wide range of documentation relating to the school’s work to safeguard pupils. These included pupils’ welfare records, behaviour records and pupils’ attendance records. We spoke to most staff about the training they receive to keep pupils safe. An inspector checked the school’s central record, which includes the checks made on staff to ensure that they are safe to work with children.  The inspection focused particularly on mathematics, history, reading and music. Other subjects were also considered as part of the inspection. We visited lessons, 8–9 October 2019

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scrutinised pupils’ work and spoke to pupils and teachers.  We took account of the views of 51 members of staff who responded to Ofsted’s staff survey and 17 responses to Ofsted’s parent survey, Parent View. We also took into account the 61 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey. We spoke to pupils both formally and informally to get their views about the school.

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Inspection team

Michele Costello, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Pritiben Patel Ofsted Inspector 8–9 October 2019

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regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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